Crystalized Munchkinry - Arc I - Chapter 06 (Patreon)

Newfoundland was gone, and with it, Dragon, and later the Dragonslayers were born.

There had already been signs if somebody knew how to read between the lines of Dragon's activities.

He genuinely felt sorry for the AI, living like that, caged and unable to even see the insane Damocles sword hanging over her head. Still, if his plans panned out, she would be the first person he would, through Taylor, help achieve a better and happier future.

He even had one of his Simulators designing a gynoid body specifically for Dragon to use, which he planned to feed to Taylor as a Tinker design.

It would be capable of housing Dragon's entire codebase and have enough battery life, even without Shard intervention, that she wouldn't need to think about recharging for months. He was also making sure the body would be capable of human biological functions to help Dragon blend in.

It was in no way, shape, or form because he shipped Dragon and Armsmaster.

He was simply hoping to help an AI who had been dealt a bad hand by Fate.

Totally.

Watching Annette and Danny react to the news had also been eye-opening.

Fanon, and to some extent canon, always portrayed them as a happy and perfect couple.

In reality, the ensuing argument about moving farther inland became intense enough that Taylor spent almost every weeknight at Emma's house.

Danny, being his stubborn self, wanted to hear nothing about abandoning Brockton Bay, his job, or the Union, arguing that even if they moved inland, there was no guarantee the other two Endbringers wouldn't eventually target wherever they ended up living.

On the other hand, Annette felt that the odds of surviving with only two Endbringers in existence were better than with all three.

She also believed that Danny's near-ridiculous obsession with reviving the docks was futile, and that it was time to give up on the idea and focus on something achievable instead of trying to rebuild an entire dead industry.

Money issues might have come up as well, but Taylor hadn't been present for that part, so he couldn't be certain.

Whatever may have been said between the two adults, by the time Taylor returned from her extended sleepover, they had reconciled.

After analyzing their body language and other visible cues, he determined that the reconciliation was, thankfully, genuine.

It seemed that while they weren't a picture-perfect couple, they were capable of arguing, listening to each other, and working through their issues.

He hoped Danny would retain those qualities when dealing with Taylor after she triggered.

A few behavioral models estimated a 78.7% chance that he would, so he filed that information away and continued working on Taylor's power project.

Continuing with the easier powers, he decided to tackle the Tinker one next.

Programming was definitely a go, considering Taylor actually liked it, and he needed her to be capable of it when the time came.

Before he started designing the Tinker power set, however, he needed to make sure not to include the usual Tinker compulsions and to add a degree of understanding to the process.

After all, he didn't want a puppet.

He wanted a minion capable of learning.

Not that he would ever call Taylor a minion to her face.

That would be detrimental to team cohesion.

Apparently, the Tinker compulsion was nothing more than the Shard's desire to make the host innovate and come up with new ideas.

The more powerful the Shard, the stronger the compulsion.

The Tinker explosion following a Trigger event was simply the expression of all that accumulated pressure, like a junkie falling into a mountain of cocaine.

They simply couldn't help themselves.

Innovation was the goal, and they would do almost anything to achieve it.

That was probably why Leet's Shard hated him: his cautious nature slowed down innovation.

Luckily for Taylor, he wasn't a simple Shard and could function perfectly well without relying on human ideas, so there was no need to worry about that.

The black-boxing part was more complicated.

Some black boxes existed to prevent either the Tinker or other people from replicating the technology, while simultaneously driving the host forward with the hope that enough innovation might eventually allow them to break through the black box.

Others existed because the Tinker simply didn't have access to the proper materials.

In those cases, the Shard would have them slap together an umbrella, a plastic duck, and three feet of copper wire, perform the heavy lifting in its own dimension, project the result back to the Tinker, and then have them use the resulting umbrella gun that fired plastic ducks.

This was also used as a way to accelerate the development of novice Tinkers who might not yet possess the resources necessary to build proper tools.

He intended to employ that method for a few projects, but he wanted to provide technology with as few black boxes as possible.

It was simply a matter of pride.

Then there were the black boxes that existed because the technology in question was considered too advanced or too dangerous for human hands, or because it involved multiple copies.

On that point, he actually agreed. Humans, himself included, could be really stupid sometimes.

There was no need to throw super-advanced technology into that mess.

He started with the basics: all the current computing languages on Earth Bet, their idealized versions courtesy of his Simulator, and a steady stream of improved languages that Taylor could both use and learn from, alongside explanations of how they worked and how she could eventually create her own languages as well.

Of course, he would provide the necessary libraries at first, which naturally came with the creation of tools, initially limited to those she could build with what she had on hand without requiring him to introduce a supporting black-box feature.

He also tried to emphasize recycling, planning a sort of Tinker tree that would allow her to reuse existing materials to construct newer tools, which also required a degree of material science and engineering knowledge so that Taylor could, if not fully explain her work, at least articulate it to a non-Tinker in a meaningful way.

Next, as essential components, came batteries and power generators, which he would of course provide in increasingly complex and efficient versions starting from existing Earth Bet technology, while also taking into account that one of the primary ways people detected Tinkers was through abnormal power consumption, meaning he also planned to provide designs for a ’super-advanced’ generator and battery system that would appear as a polished black-boxed casing and serve as his method of supplying energy for whatever project Taylor chose to pursue.

Hopefully, sooner or later, she would transition into using her own designs that required no black boxes at all.

That naturally led into computers, which he would also provide plans for alongside the programming framework, ideally paired with a setup in which Taylor would agree to install a hidden generator and server in her basement, as it would be a highly useful configuration both for her and for his own plans.

For communication, and deliberately avoiding the father-daughter pair’s aversion to mobile phones, he would instead provide alternative systems, including upgrades to their home network infrastructure, improved security on their existing phones, added redirect functionality, stronger privacy tools, and better anonymity when using the internet, even if, unfortunately, there was not much he could do about raw internet speed, which would have to be improved the old-fashioned way.

He would also include designs for watch-based phones that would initially be black-boxed, primarily to ensure Danny and Taylor could stay in contact during the stress of a fresh Trigger and the entire Winslow situation.

Which would function in such a way that they would be effectively impossible to intercept because they would not transmit conventional signals, instead routing communication through the black box itself.

This design packet would also include supporting frameworks for wireless communication, improved internet infrastructure, and phones, with the required programming already integrated into the broader systems design packet.

For fun, and as an added layer of security experimentation, he also included a packet for soft and hard light projection systems, which could be used for entertainment such as watching movies or for generating disguises for people or objects.

Though on a more personal level he simply found the technology fascinating and, now that he had the opportunity to see it realized, was fully leaning into that curiosity.

He briefly wondered if Taylor would be up for some Leia cosplay.

Beyond those larger systems, there were lighter robotics as well, primarily simple drones intended for maintenance and manufacturing tasks, which could also be integrated with projection systems where appropriate. Along with several self-defense tools such as tasers, personal kinetic shields, trackers, and scanners designed to detect bugs and monitoring devices.

The broader tech tree would also include systems for recycling and environmental cleanup, including the remediation of hazards such as radiation and similar contamination.

As far as Anti-Endbringer technology went, he did not plan to give her anything too major, since she already had Sting and, if that failed, it would likely already be far too late to deploy any meaningful countermeasures.

Though he still designed several radiation and energy shielding systems, both personal and large-scale, as well as rebreathers intended for underwater combat or search-and-rescue scenarios, complete with integrated life scanners.

As a final crowning achievement, he managed to fit a very crude and compact version of an Anti-Thinker field into a headband that would theoretically prevent the Simurgh from influencing the wearer’s mind.

As a side effect it would also disrupt other Master effects, though because it was not directly supported by him it could still be circumvented, overwhelmed, or outright destroyed with sufficient effort.

Even so, it would be a significant asset in negotiations with the PRT.

For the final piece, he adapted the concept of Medi-Gel from one of his favorite series and recreated it in a simplified form.

Going so far as to design its manufacturing process to be as accessible as possible, whether through a homemade machine assembled from scrap or through proper industrial production that could scale upward into mass manufacturing.

Naturally, it was not a true cure-all but rather advanced trauma medicine, since many lives were still lost simply because people could not be reached in time, and this would help mitigate that gap significantly.

He also ensured that it was understandable by modern Earth Bet standards and included supporting medical scanning technologies that, while not the most advanced, could still be manufactured without Tinker-level participation.

He hoped Taylor would be able to release it broadly across the internet. However, since he was not a business expert, he left the commercialization and distribution side to whatever future specialist she might eventually contact.

Theoretically, he could have learned everything humanity knew about business and economics and used one of his Simulators to achieve unparalleled success, but he had always detested dealing with it, so he had never devoted much time to the subject.

He hoped it would be Dragon who ended up helping Taylor in that regard, given her established reputation as a technology provider and the trust she had already built, which would also likely ease Danny’s concerns if he knew his daughter had access to at least some form of advanced trauma treatment in the event of a confrontation with other parahumans.

Not that it would truly stop him worrying, since Danny would likely worry regardless of what safeguards were in place.

For the main power, he went unapologetically full anime.

He liked those settings, creative and self-consistent in their own way, and it spared him the need to invent something ’seriously original’ from scratch.

Using controlled manipulation of matter and energy, he would grant electrokinesis, albeit with several deliberate modifications and additions.

The first, entirely nonsensical change was that everything it produced would be a cheerful sunshine yellow, much like a portal’s glowing edge.

He liked the color, and it felt right for Taylor.

As a minor addition, he would use gravitational control to grant her flight.

At first, she would only be able to hover, but with practice she would gain altitude, speed, and maneuverability.

There were two reasons he was not handing her full mastery immediately after Trigger.

First and foremost, if she received everything at once the moment she left the hospital, there was a high probability she would immediately go and do something with it, possibly something bad, but more likely something reckless and stupid.

The second reason was skill development.

Starting small would force adaptation.

She would learn the system, its limits, its ’feel’, and in doing so become far more proficient.

Ideally, she would also learn to appreciate progression instead of treating it as an instant toolkit.

The base ability was electricity discharge.

She could emit electricity from any part of her body, even multiple points at once.

He would set up predefined presets in advance, so all Taylor would need to do was pull the trigger and aim.

To summarize the core functions, she would be able to control voltage and output intensity to a limited degree after training, allowing both lethal and non-lethal applications through the same framework.

She could also influence molecular and atomic cohesion, strengthening or weakening bonds.

In practice, this meant reinforcing her own body to extreme levels or degrading non-living material.

A superficial Manton-style constraint would be applied as a safeguard, with a deeper override switch he could access if necessary.

She would also be able to regulate heat transfer, accelerating or slowing thermal energy in materials.

Not true pyrokinesis or cryokinesis, but a practical extension for utility, especially when paired with Tinker work, where kilns, heaters, and cooling rigs would become optional rather than required.

The body reinforcement layer would integrate a baseline martial arts framework, and at higher proficiency it could be supplemented by a form of quantum locking for stabilization and force resistance.

Through magnetism, she could attract or repel ferrous materials, allowing rudimentary bullet deflection, directional awareness via magnetic north, and, given some amount of training, sensitivity to larger magnetic fields.

She would also be capable of perceiving electric fields at first in strong concentrations, and later in finer detail, including biological bioelectric signals.

Finally, her neural processing could be enhanced through electrical modulation, increasing reflex speed and cognitive throughput, though this would remain locked behind initial control milestones to prevent early misuse or accidental self-harm.

Best to make sure his Host did not fry herself off the bat.

On the technique side, she could activate a lightning armor state, a full-body sheath of sunshine-yellow electricity that enhanced all physical parameters while electrifying attacks, whether delivered bare-handed or through weapons.

Her contact attacks could induce paralysis by interfering with the nervous system, all calibrated to prevent unintended lethality or collateral damage.

Per tradition, she would also have access to ranged constructs: lightning bullets, spears, and even a purely electrical melee spear form, which came bundled with a foundational understanding of spear and staff combat.

Against groups, she could generate hovering orbs of lightning that could be launched at will, initially limited to three orbs and a single-shot release, scaling upward with experience.

As a secondary function, they could also double as portable reading lights.

Restraint options included a lightning cage, a configurable electric field enclosure that could be shaped and positioned at activation and would persist until dismissed, with the starting configuration set at a two-cubic-meter containment field, enough to reliably hold a person.

A flash discharge technique would allow blinding bursts of electricity, with safeguards to prevent ocular damage baked into the template.

An EMP variant would also exist, externally triggered by him and designed to affect only unshielded electronics, leaving biological systems untouched.

And finally, his favorite construct: the Lightning Clone.

This would be a paper-thin projection of Taylor, complete with superficial wounds or damage states if desired, animated and filled by electrical charge, executing only preloaded instructions given at creation by Taylor.

ts baseline duration would be around ninety seconds, long enough to decisively shift a fight but otherwise temporary.

Upon expiration, it could either dissipate or detonate depending on the preset choice, and if sufficiently damaged beforehand, it would terminate early in the same fashion.

Later improvements would allow partial reaction capability, though full autonomy was intentionally excluded.

He also allowed non-combat uses, such as basic labor tasks like cleaning.

Memory transfer functionality, common in fiction, remained out of reach for now, though he kept it on the list of future improvements.

With this suite of abilities, he hoped Taylor would be able to live without constant fear of dying and, eventually, be capable of standing against entities like Zion and the other looming threats in the dark.